1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a control method thereof. In particular, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming an image by discharging ink on an external print object, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an image forming apparatus refers to a copy machine, a printer, an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), a facsimile machine, and the like. The MFP refers to a multifunction terminal implemented by integrating individual terminals, such as a facsimile machine, a scanner, a printer, a copy machine and the like, into one body, and is used independently or through connection to a computer.
As one example of the image forming apparatus, an inkjet printer includes a head for discharging ink and a controller for controlling the head.
A conventional image forming apparatus, as illustrated in FIG. 4, includes a head having an n-bit shift register 111 and an n-bit latch 113, and a controller 190 for controlling the head. Here, the controller 190 outputs a serial clock signal (S-clock signal) and serial data (S-data) to a data driver 110 of the head, the n-bit shift register 111 of the data driver 110 receives and stores the serial clock signal and the serial data, the n-bit latch 113 outputs the serial data to a data output part 150 in parallel, and the data output part 150 outputs the serial data to an ink discharging part 170 for discharging ink. Here, the data output part 150 may be plural in number corresponding to colors of ink of the ink discharging part 170. That is, assuming that the ink is composed of four colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K), the data output part 150 may be composed of a C-data output part 151 corresponding to cyan, a M-data output part 153 corresponding to magenta, a Y-data output part 155 corresponding to yellow, and a K-data output part 157 corresponding to black, and the ink discharging part 170 may be composed of a C-ink discharging part 171 corresponding to cyan, a M-ink discharging part 173 corresponding to magenta, a Y-ink discharging part 175 corresponding to yellow, and a K-ink discharging part 177 corresponding to black.
Presently, when a data output part 151, 153, 155 or 157 of output parts 150 provided in the conventional image forming apparatus is not used for its corresponding color, all of the data output parts 150 nonetheless receive a latch clock signal output through the data driving part 110. Accordingly, the conventional image forming apparatus has a problem of wasteful power consumption on data output part with is not used, but operates to receive the latch lock signal.